PAGA: Second District, Div. 4 Holds PAGA Cause Of Action Cannot Be Split Into An Arbitrable Individual Claim And A Nonarbitrable Representative Claim

The Waiver Of A Right To Assert PAGA Claim In Any Forum Is Unenforceable And The Claim Cannot Be Split.

     Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC is still binding precedent, and an employee cannot be required to waive a representative PAGA claim in any forum.  But can an employee, who asserts a representative PAGA claim be required to submit the “underlying controversy” to arbitration for a determination whether he is an “aggrieved employee” with standing, before pursuing the representative PAGA claim?  No, says the Court of Appeal in Williams v. Superior Court (Pinkerton Governmental Services, Inc., Real Party In Interest), B261007 (2/4 June 9, 2015) (Manella, Willhite, Collins) (published).  The PAGA claim cannot be split.

     And so it goes, as employers continue to search for imaginative ways to arbitrate PAGA claims, and employees and California courts continue to push back.